Make Your Next Vacation a Swim Vacation

During the worst of the COVID-19 crisis, when swimming pools around the world shuttered, people flocked to open water, many for the first time. A significant percentage of them have continued swimming outdoors, even as their local pools have reopened.

Similarly, as COVID restrictions faded, many people took the vacations and trips that they’d been forced to cancel before vaccines were widely available. Dubbed “revenge travel,” this pent-up demand has led to soaring travel figures around the globe.

Amid all this churn, a particular type of swimming-oriented travel holiday has also spiked in popularity. Although companies offering swimming vacations have been around since the turn of the century, the past few years have seen their popularity swell.

So what is a swimming holiday, and why are people doing it?

A happy marriage of travel and sport

Swimming vacations, a niche type of adventure-based tourism, can be a powerful way of tapping into your inner explorer. Many make a point of taking participants to locations teeming with benign wildlife for a close encounter of the aquatic kind.

Case in point, when I took part in a November 2023 SwimTrek trip to Baja California Sur, my favorite experience came when we swam with a colony of wild sea lions off Los Islotes, a tiny rock formation in the Gulf of California. Getting to share the water and play among those gorgeous pinnipeds was a lifetime highlight for me.

While swimming with wild things might not be every triathlete’s idea of a good time, for many, having a chance to swim in exotic locations with dynamic conditions can be an excellent way to boost comfort and confidence in the water while getting in some substantial swim training. Plus, the fact that you can always opt out of a swim and stay on the boat or back at the hotel can make that commitment to swimming every day seem less daunting.

There are a range of purveyors in this space (see below for several of the better-known outfits), and each trip is its own standalone experience. Some companies specialize in week-long adventures aboard watercraft, while others offer shorter escapes based out of a terrestrial hotel in a bustling tourist area. Some are focused on fine-tuning technique with video analysis, while others offer a chance to push for longer distances. Some build up to a specific event or race, while still others encourage guests to forget about times and distances and just swim for the sheer joy of it.

In short, there’s something for every athlete in this burgeoning industry, and if you can afford it, adding one of these trips might do your swimming – and your mental health – a world of good.

Trendsetter: SwimTrek

The largest and most widely known swimming holiday company is SwimTrek. Based in Brighton, United Kingdom, the company was founded in 2003 by Simon Murie. The British swimmer and triathlete discovered that setting up a swim across the historically significant Hellespont in Turkey to celebrate his 30th birthday was a massive logistical undertaking.

After spending weeks getting the appropriate permissions and finding the right support, Murie’s swim lasted barely an hour. Figuring that other swimmers might want to undertake the event but would appreciate not having to work so hard to make it happen, SwimTrek was born.

Since then, the company has grown from a one-man-band offering a handful of trips per year to a British tourism behemoth that hosts some 70 trips in 47 locations around the world each year. The company is continually adding new locations and dates to meet the rising demand.

SwimTrek offers a few different types of packages – some are more aquatic-based sightseeing excursions, while others focus on improving technique and boosting training. Most SwimTrek trips have a home base on land, typically at a mid-range or luxury hotel on or near the water. From there, the group visits multiple swimming locations via boat.

But some of the trips are based on a live-aboard catamaran or other vessel, and participants spend the whole week on the boat sailing from one swim spot to the next.

One of their most unique trips was one I was lucky to join while on assignment. That trip took 11 guests plus me to La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur, from which we boated an hour out to remote Isla Espíritu Santo where we camped for a glorious five days.

More glamping than true camping, this trip took us off the grid, well beyond the reach of urban cell towers. With small tents pitched at the water’s edge, we got to experience a deep immersion in nature and swimming that I found a refreshing reprieve from my daily over-connectedness at home. The swimming was naturally superlative, but so was the bird watching, wildlife sightings (those sea lions!), food, and good cheer among the group of strangers-turned-friends.

Each one of SwimTrek’s trips appeals to a different type of traveler, Murie says, but “the key is, swimming comes first.” When adding new locations, he says the focus is on ensuring that guests will have a great swimming experience, “then everything else is workable around it.”

Some trips are centered on a specific event. For example, a recent acquisition for SwimTrek was the Nevis to St. Kitts Cross Channel Swim, which had been locally organized for over two decades. In 2024, SwimTrek bought the event and has grown its size while also adding a four-day trip option for swimmers who want the full SwimTrek experience in addition to a destination swimming event entry.

Murie says SwimTrek has always appealed to multisport athletes – roughly 10% to 30% of participants on any given trip identify as triathletes, he says. But they also appeal to dippers and swimmers at all levels of engagement with open-water swimming.

All inclusive: SwimVacation

At the smaller end of the scale is Maine-based SwimVacation, founded by Hopper McDonough and Heather Perry in 2008. Since then, SwimVacation has run 78 trips, most of which are based on a boat. (Full disclosure, I guided a SwimVacation trip to the British Virgin Islands in 2012.)

McDonough says the post-COVID revenge travel phenomenon has been good for business. “We’ve been booked pretty much two years out since COVID,” he says. “We have a waitlist for almost every trip,” and a Tahiti trip scheduled for 2027 sold out in a single night.

SwimVacation also boasts an exceptionally high 30% return customer rate, so on some trips, seven or eight guests have swum with them previously. One woman leads this pack, having just completed her 17th SwimVacation trip in May 2025.

Many of those folks return with others they met on a SwimVacation trip, which is a point of pride for Perry and McDonough. “They go on to travel together again, and these friendships stay beyond us,” Perry says.

Guests come from all walks of life, with a love of swimming and the outdoors being a unifying characteristic. SwimVacation serves a mix of competitive Masters and recreational swimmers, as well as plenty of triathletes.

“But what we always strive to do is keep it vacation, which I think is different from others who are running swimming trips,” McDonough says. “This is not a swim camp. It’s a vacation, and I think for some people, especially triathletes, it’s an opportunity to either fall in love with swimming again or fall in love with it for the first time.”

To do that, Perry, McDonough, and the rest of their guides take pains to seek out local points of interest and to scale the pace so that all participants have someone to swim with comfortably. “We look for opportunities to sightsee and take a break and play,” Perry says.

Rather than rigidly focus on hitting specific distance goals during each outing, they take time to smell the seaweed, “which I feel like triathletes who are not swimmers – which is most of them – really need this. It’s not their instinct, but they need comfort in the water, and that’s something that we try to prioritize,” Perry says. Still, for highly motivated guests, there’s almost always an option to swim farther or faster during each session.

While most of SwimVacation’s trips are based on live-aboard vessels, not all of them are. Some people don’t want a boat-based trip because they’re worried about seasickness, while others might not love the idea of being “stuck” on a boat all week without easy access to alternate venues. However, running and cycling excursions can certainly be arranged on most of the SwimVacation adventures, and not all of their offerings are boat-based.

No matter how the trip is staged, fine dining is a key component of SwimVacation’s offerings and something that they say sets them apart from the competition.

Tips to get more out of a swimming holiday

To get the most out of any swimming vacation you might be planning, Murie recommends taking the time to really tune into your swimming while you’re underway. While many of us Type A personalities are super focused on hitting all our interim goals when training for a race, sometimes loosening the rigidity of our normal training program can help us make a leap forward in swimming.

Use this opportunity to “get an understanding of what makes your swimming tick and maybe go under the hood a bit on technique,” he says. Having feedback from trained guides and coaches, along with the chance to practice the changes they recommend in real time in open water can help you improve your skills quickly.

“We can’t often do the technique training in the open water where you’re actually racing,” Murie says. But having an opportunity to “develop your stroke based on the open water you’re going to be in can improve confidence and triathlon performance.”

What’s more, especially for those who are new to triathlon, swimming in a group on a SwimTrek trip can help you gain confidence in the water and feel more comfortable with the splashing and the inevitable feet and elbow bumps you’ll likely encounter during a race, he says.

Also having a dedicated period to just swim long and loose beyond the reach of your Garmin can help you find your best open water groove. “If you’re relaxed in the water, your efficiency and performance will improve markedly,” Murie explains.

Therefore, he recommends really “committing to that week of swimming whilst looking at and improving your technique in the open water itself to build confidence and the feeling that you’re at home in the open water.”

Six trips to consider 

Following is a sampling of some swimming holiday trips that triathletes may find especially enjoyable when preparing for race day.

1. SwimVacation Kona. For fans of Ironman or triathlon history, SwimVacation’s Hawaii trip is worth considering. The package includes six days and nights in a private beachfront residence on Waialea Bay, Big Island. All meals are prepared by a private chef and included in the cost (except for one lunch in downtown Kona). Snacks and beverages (soft drinks as well as a fully stocked bar) are also included. SwimVacation offers two guided swims per day with support from a paddleboard and boat. Body surfing, free-diving, rock running, stand-up paddleboarding, stroke and open-water swimming technique analysis, massage, yoga, and a full-day boat excursion are also included. Training rides and runs and guided workouts can be scheduled throughout the trip on the famed Ironman Kona course. Time trial and road bike rentals are available. Flights and some transfers are not included. From $6,995.
2. SwimTrek Big Island – Hawaii. With a maximum group size of 12, this package offers two boat-supported, guided swims per day of about 2.5 kilometers each. Six nights’ accommodation in a boutique hotel in the heart of Kona, all breakfasts, and four lunches are included. Flights, transfers, dinners, drinks, and additional activities are excluded. Scuba diving and manta ray experience are charged separately. The company’s 2025 and 2026 dates are sold out, but 2027 options will be announced soon. From $1,500.
3. SwimTrek Bahamas. SwimTrek’s Bahamas trip includes four fully guided swimming days with professional swim guides and full safety escort on all swims – two per day, adding up to about 3 kilometers total each day. Six nights’ accommodation at a waterfront resort hotel, all breakfasts and lunches during swimming days are included. Flights, transfers, dinners, drinks, and additional activities are excluded. From $3,452.
4. SwimTrek Mallorca. A mix of pool swimming and open sea swims combine during this six-day coaching camp that aims to level up your swimming skills for swimmers with some open water familiarity. (A similar trip, Introduction to Open Water – Mallorca is designed for individuals who are completely new to open-water swimming.) Professional swim coaching and safety cover, video analysis, five nights’ accommodation, all breakfasts, one picnic lunch, and four buffet dinners are included. From $1,456.
5. Strel Swimming Lake Powell. The stunning red rock canyons of Lake Powell provide the backdrop for this four-day tour that includes swimming and boating in the lake and hiking and exploring nearby Navajo trails. Guests stay at the Clarion Inn Hotel in Page, Arizona, about 15 minutes from the marina where they board a boat each morning for a ride to that day’s first swimming location. Cost includes two guided and supported swims per day for a total of about 5 kilometers per day, plus hikes, kayaking, and paddling. All breakfasts and lunches are included. Flights, transfers, dinners, drinks, and extra activities are excluded. From $1,600.
6. The Big Blue Swim, The Volcanic Swim Santorini. This five-day, approximately 5-kilometer per day swimming safari is based at the luxurious four-star hotel El Greco. Filmed stroke analysis, guided coastal swims around Santorini, buffet breakfasts, snacks and drinks after the swims, a T-shirt, and a water bottle are all included. Volcano crater walks (or runs!) and a wine tasting at nearby Santo Wines are also included. From £1,210 (about $1,610). 

Swimming holiday purveyors

In addition to SwimTrek and SwimVacation, other established providers in the swimming holiday space include:

• Strel Swimming: Founded by Slovenian ultramarathon swimmer Martin Strel and his son Borat in 2010, Strel Swimming offers a range of trips from four to eight days in Greece, Croatia, Mexico, Turkey, Arizona, Slovenia, and Montenegro.
• SwimQuest: Joint-owned by John Coningham-Rolls and Alice Todd, UK-based SwimQuest offers a range of week-long trip options around the world and also has Short Break options – shorter trips that span a long weekend that might be easier to fit into busy schedules.
• SwimCamp.US: This California-based company got its start in 2013 with a marathon-swimming-focused swim camp on Catalina Island. They soon added camps in Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, Tahiti, and Fiji. SwimCamp.US focuses on larger groups with an average camp size of 45 swimmers.
• The Big Blue Swim: Founded in 2011, the Big Blue Swim focuses exclusively on swimming holidays in Greece. Their five- and seven-day options wind along and around Crete, Ithaca, Lefkada, Paros, and Santorini.
• Cross Country Swimming: This Australia-based company specializes in eco-active itineraries featuring swim trails, beach camps, cross-country swimming, and other activities such as biking, hiking, kayaking, rafting, and more. Spa experiences and personalized training sessions are also part of the package on some of their trips, in which they aim to cultivate a community of swim-travelers.
• Ice Swimming Adventures: For those who aren’t too scared to dare, Ice Swimming Adventures offers several bespoke excursions to extreme cold water locations around the world. Hosted by South Africa-based International Ice Swimming Association founder Ram Barkai, these expeditions are tailored for experienced ice swimmers who want to explore remote locations from Antarctica and Svalbard to Mongolia and Japan. Strict qualification requirements are in force, and these trips average 10 or more days.